Based on an article in the Spanish magazine Interviu, El Pais reports that another doping network may have been uncovered in Spain that may involve some big name cyclists.
Moisés Dueñas and Maribel Moreno, both caught doping in 2008, have told the magazine that their doping practices had been assisted by Spanish doctor Jesus Losa. Apparently, the doctor was tipped off about the police investigation making it difficult for the authorities to track his clients. Some text messages were intercepted presumably between the doctor and other clients, but no further details about their contents were released.
Spanish cyclist Maribel Moreno pulled out of the Beijing Olympics just two days before they started citing personal reasons. She later had the dubious honor of being the first athlete to test positive for performance enhancing drugs in the 2008 games. She had taken EPO. Dueñas was thrown out of the 2008 Tour de France before the eleventh stage where he also tested positive for EPO.
Jesus Losa is a former doctor for the Euskaltel- Euskadi team, and is most known for his involvement with David Millar in 2004 when he was riding for the French Cofidis team. Millar admitted to taking EPO and working with Losa and was sanctioned by the International Cycling Union. Since serving his ban, Millar has turned his efforts toward cleaning up the doping situation in the sport with the Garmin-Slipstream team.
No evidence has been presented about the other cyclists cited as being a part of the network, but VeloNation will report on any concrete facts as they emerge.
While Dueñas and Moreno have been working with authorities in the hopes of a reduced sentence, their help in the investigation is hopefully another example of doping offenders realizing it is time for the sport to move on to a cleaner future.